Lair Hockey takes the enjoyment of hitting disks on an air hockey table further into worlds and battles, bosses and even to space. Fight robots, escape death traps, acquire powers and score goals against a variety of monsters, spiders, giant tanks and don't forget to whack some moles. Mar 30, 2021 The Nintendo Switch certainly isn't as powerful as other modern systems, but is capable of offering a great gaming experience at a smooth 60 fps for some games. Cave Story (洞窟物語, Dōkutsu Monogatari) is a 2004 Metroidvania platform-adventure game for Microsoft Windows. It was developed over five years by Japanese developer Daisuke 'Pixel' Amaya in his free time. Cave Story features 2D platform mechanics and is reminiscent of the games Amaya played in his youth, such as Metroid and Castlevania (both from 1986). RetroArch can run on the usual platforms like Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, but it stands alone in that it can support far more platforms beyond just that. We support operating systems that not even Microsoft and Apple themselves support anymore, such as macOS X on PowerPC Macs, and RetroArch being available on Windows OSes as far back as.

1. Mac Os Catalina
2. Mac Os Download
3. Mac Os Versions

At a glance

Our Verdict

If you’re “seasoned” enough, you probably remember a time when adventure games were at the apex of their popularity, and LucasArts wasn’t yet too busy churning out bad Star Wars titles to bring us releases like Full Throttle, The Dig, and the Monkey Island franchise.

The Cave (App Store Link), a $5 title developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Sega, harkens all the way back to those glory days, and indeed counts LucasArts alumni Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer among its creators.

Seven characters in search of a… cave

In this game, your task is to lead a group of three characters through the titular cave, a mysterious, sentient place that knows all of mankind’s history, from prehistory to the far future. You get to pick your alter egos from a pool of seven possible candidates, which include stereotypical gaming fodder like adventurers, knights, scientists, time travellers, and a particularly creepy set of twins.

Each character possesses a unique special ability; for example, the Time Traveler can phase-shift through some solid objects like walls and gates, while the twins, which normally count as one character, can be temporarily split and controlled separately.

The abilities come in handy at various point during gameplay; while you can complete the game with any set of three characters, certain areas can only be accessed if a particular character is in your party—which also means that, in order to experience every nook and cranny of the cave, you will need to play the game at least three times.

Work hard, puzzle hard

As is the case with any game in this genre, The Cave’s focal point is its script, which displays all the brilliance and ingenuity that made LucasArts’ old titles so popular. The titular cave is presented as an attraction of sorts, in which characters can explore the dark side of their personality without fear or repercussion; during their tour, they will have plenty of opportunities to die by just about any way possible: electrocution, fire, fall, laser, and digestion by creatures real and imaginary; in every case, however, they will respawn nearby, giving you another chance to regroup and plan your next move.

At each step, you have to contend with devilish and often absurdist puzzle that often require the cooperation of multiple characters to solve. As a result of the game’s premise, these puzzles can almost always be solved in a way that goes completely (and usually hilariously) against each character’s stereotypical behavior: the knight retrieves a jewel by getting the fair damsel eaten by a dragon instead of saving her, the time traveler can only advance by altering the course of history, and so on. You even get the chance to dispatch a particularly obnoxious museum clerk by crushing his wheel-inventing ancestor with a boulder.

To make things even more ingenious, the game’s script is peppered with references to classics of the adventure genre and a wide range of very clever little touches, like a damsel who is unwillingly in distress and would rather just pursue her dream of becoming a software engineer, or a future in which keys are looked upon as a curious archeological artifact whose function is lost in the mists of time.

I didn’t find the puzzles too hard—after all, they are what makes an adventure game fun—but I did find grasping the game’s dynamics a bit too challenging at the beginning. The Cave throws you right into the thick of things, without any sort of tutorial level that gives you a chance to get acquainted with the way things work.

Sound, sight, and action

The Cave’s takes place in a three-dimensional environment that you navigate as if it were a 2-D platformer. The game’s graphics are well executed, as are the soundtrack and, in particular, the voiceovers, in which the cave itself provides narration that punctuates your advancement in the game. The characters are rendered using a slightly exaggerated, marionette-like look that helps better highlight their personality even though they have no recognizable facial expressions and only communicate in grunts.

Unfortunately, the controls are very hard to use, particularly on an iPhone, where the combination of small targets and an extremely finicky touch interface are enough to drive even the most patient player to distraction. While this is a relatively small issue—and one that I hope the developers will address in a future release—it makes the game much harder to play than it should be, greatly affecting its enjoyment.

Still, as far as games go, The Cave is as good as any old-school adventure game that I can think of, with wit, tough challenges, and great jokes to spare. Once you get past the challenging controls, it’s a fun game that will give your brain a workout while keeping you entertained for hours on end.

Note:For Cave Story WiiWare, Cave Story+, Cave Story DSi, or Cave Story 3D please click here.

Note on NXEngine: NXEngine is an open source reproduction of the Cave Story engine. Most of the other ports here are built using the original source code from Pixel, but NXEngine ports are built from a fork of the NXEngine source core, at any stage of NXEngine's development. Chances are that the differences will be unnoticeable or really minor to most, but it is worth keeping in mind.

Note on NXEngine-evo: NXEngine-evo is a fork of NXEngine whose primary feature is widescreen support.

Note on CSE2: CSE2 is another open source reproduction of the Cave Story engine, except it is designed for accuracy and faithfulness to the original. Sadly, it was subject to a DMCA takedown.

Windows

Main Download

To play this in English you will need this and the English translation patch listed below.

Translations

This needs to be applied to the main download listed above.

Note: Unlike the German translations below, the Reality Dreamers translation is a direct Japanese to German translation.

Spanish translation by Vagrant Traducciones

Deluxe Package

Cave Story Deluxe Package (Updated)
(contains Cave Story fully translated, guides, useful programs and much more!) Still no Mac installer though.

Deluxe Package Contents

Keep in mind that Cave Story Deluxe adds nothing new to Cave Story that wasn't already present. It just houses a bunch of extra stuff under one installer. For Mac and Linux users that can't use the installer individual downloads of the package contents are listed below.

Misc

Cave Story WASD by voxl(Website Archive )
(A Cave Story executable with keys remapped to a WASD config)

NXEngine Downloads

Windows NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

NXEngine-evo Downloads

Windows 32-bit port by isage (Website )

Various Cave Story Ports

Mac

Main Downloads

Mac port 0.1.0 (Intel macOS 10.15) by Nakiwo(Website )

To play these in English you will need the English translation patches listed below.

Translations

Mac English translation for 0.0.8 by Turtle(Website )

These need to be applied to the relevant main download listed above.

CSE2 Downloads

NXEngine-evo Downloads

Mac OSX port by isage (Website )

Linux

Main Downloads

Misc

NXEngine Downloads

Linux 32-bit NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

NXEngine-evo Downloads

Linux port by isage (Website )

Amiga

Main Download

Note: There are reports of a bug that may make the game unwinnable.

NXEngine Downloads

Classic Amiga Port by Arczi (English)(Website )

PSP

Main Download

Cave Story PSP by ufo_z(Website )

Translations

GP2X

Main Download

Cave Story ~ Doukutsu Monogatari GP2X build by Simon Parzer and Peter Mackay(openhandhelds.org Listing )

Compatibility Layer

This can also be played on Caanoo and/or Pandora by using a compatibility layer called GINGE.

GINGE for Pandora by notaz(Website )

GP2X Wiz

Main Download

Cave Story ~ Doukutsu Monogatari GP2X Wiz build by Simon Parzer and Peter Mackay(openhandhelds.org Listing )

Mac Os Catalina

Compatibility Layer

This can also be played on Caanoo and/or Pandora by using the compatibility layer known as GINGE, however it is better use GINGE with the GP2X port above.

XBox

Main Download

Note: Some users report slower gameplay/lag.

Webassembly

GBA

Tech Demos

Note: Ravenworks' GBA port was dropped back in 2006 in favour of the DS port. These tech demos are listed here only for the sake of completion and are unlikely to result in a complete port.

Nintendo DS

CSE2 Downloads

Mac Os Download

Tech Demos

Note: Again, these 3 tech demos are unlikely to result in a finished product.

Megadrive

Custom Engine Download

Note: This port is a work in progress.

RetroArch

NXEngine Downloads

Note: The best way to obtain a up to date build of this port is to open Retro Arch and navigate to Main Menu > Online Updater > Core Updater > Cave Story (NXEngine).

Select the NXEngine Core by going to Main Menu > Load Core > Cave Story (NXEngine). Download and extract the source files above, then in Retro Arch go to Main Menu > Load Content > Select File, navigate to your source file folder, open the datafiles folder and then open the file Doukutsu.exe.

TI-nspire

Gamecube

Dreamcast

MotoMAGX

NXEngine Downloads

MotoMAGX NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

MotoEZX

NXEngine Downloads

MotoEZX NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

Dingoo A320

NXEngine Downloads

Dingoo A320 NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

Raspberry Pi

Mac Os Versions

Ritmix

NXEngine Downloads

Ritmix RZX-50 NXEngine Port by EXL (English)(Website )

Haiku OS

NXEngine Downloads

Haiku OS 32-bit NXEngine Port by EXL (English+Russian)(Website )

AROS